Definition
Mockadoes is the plural form of mockado, a type of woven woolen cloth manufactured in England during the sixteenth century. The term appears in English legal sources primarily in the context of trade regulation and textile statutes. As a legal term, mockadoes is notable chiefly as a regulated commodity under Tudor-era legislation governing the domestic cloth trade.
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Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Plural of mockado.
Historical common usage: Not entered in Webster's 1913. The term had passed out of common English use well before the nineteenth century.
The word belongs to the specialized vocabulary of the early modern cloth trade. It carries no legal meaning distinct from its commercial and material meaning — the legal significance comes entirely from the regulatory context in which the cloth was named.
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Why It Matters in Research
Researchers are unlikely to encounter mockadoes except when working with primary sources from the Elizabethan period or annotated editions of early English statutes. The term functions as a commodity descriptor embedded in trade and textile regulation, not as a term of legal art with independent doctrinal weight.
The key navigational point: both editions of Black's Law Dictionary include the entry solely because the word appears in a named statute — St. 23 Eliz. c. 9 (1580–81), an act regulating English cloth manufacture. If you encounter the term in a legal document, the relevant interpretive question is always the scope and application of that statute, not any freestanding legal definition of the cloth itself.
Researchers working in early English commercial law, guild regulation, or the history of textile trades will find this term embedded in a broader cluster of cloth-trade vocabulary — kerseys, friezes, fustians, and similar regulated fabrics appear throughout the same statutory period. Understanding mockadoes requires familiarity with the Elizabethan regulatory framework for domestic manufacture, which used precise commodity names to define the scope of quality controls, guild privileges, and export restrictions.
No significant doctrinal evolution applies here. The term does not migrate into modern law. Its sole legal life is the statute.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Both editions of Black's Law Dictionary provide identical, minimal entries: mockadoes is a kind of cloth made in England, mentioned in St. 23 Eliz. c. 9. The entries agree entirely and offer nothing beyond the statutory reference. Neither edition ventures a description of the fabric's physical characteristics, its commercial significance, or the regulatory purpose of the statute in which it appears.
What the historical dictionaries miss: the cloth now known as mockado (also spelled mocado, mockado, and variants) was a pile fabric imitating velvet, typically with a wool or mixed-fiber construction. It was a mid-market textile — less costly than true velvet, widely used for furnishings and garments. The Elizabethan statute addressing it was part of a broader legislative effort to standardize cloth quality and protect both domestic producers and consumers from adulterated or substandard goods. Without this context, the bare dictionary entry is difficult to use.
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Jurisdictional Note
Mockadoes as a legal term is specific to English law of the Elizabethan period. It has no American legal history and no continued application in any modern jurisdiction. Researchers outside English legal history will not encounter it as operative law.
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